Interestingly, there are three apps missing from the list: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. That’s a pretty big omission considering each of those apps has more than a billion users, and is arguably the most popular app in their respective categories.
Of course, all three apps are also owned by Meta, which used to be called Facebook before the company thought changing its name would help deflect from all the negative attention it receives. We’ll ignore, for now, the fact that the reason it receives so much negative attention isn’t because of its name.
On the contrary, it’s because of its behavior–like the way it tracks pretty much everything you do online and then uses that information to show you ads, for example. Apple, on the other hand, makes a point of the fact that it doesn’t collect and share user data with third-parties, and talks often about how it views privacy as a “fundamental human right.”
Last year,
Apple rolled out changes to iOS, the software that powers the iPhone, that requires developers to request permission before they’re allowed to track users. That put a hurt on Facebook’s business. At the time, the world’s largest social media platform took out
full-page ads in major newspapers warning that Apple was a threat to the open internet and was intentionally harming small businesses.
Hyperbole aside, it’s fair to say that the two companies aren’t exactly friends. Which explains why Apple isn’t especially interested in encouraging people to download Facebook regardless of how many people are going to do so anyway.
As if that weren’t enough proof of how Apple feels, the first four apps on the list are Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and Google. If you made a list of Facebook’s four main competitors–this is that list. Also included are Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitch, and a handful of streaming services (though not Netflix or Spotify).